


you are a perpetual feeling

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, Fluff, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, M/M, MIT Era, tony stark is a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25693408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Rhodey had expected to meet his soulmate somewhere dangerous, if he was being honest. His words--hide me, they’ll kill me if they find me-- didn’t really allude to the happy, fluffy meetings that most soulmates were lucky enough to have. He’d spent years daydreaming about what could’ve possibly inspired words like those, and he had to admit that he never in his wildest dreams imagined that his soulmate would dart under his desk while he was studying, looking a little bit feral.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Comments: 18
Kudos: 536
Collections: IronHusbands





	you are a perpetual feeling

**Author's Note:**

> title froma sanober khan quote: "in a world full of temporary things, you are a perpetual feeling"
> 
> for au-gust day 3: soulmate au
> 
> enjoy!!

Rhodey had expected to meet his soulmate somewhere dangerous, if he was being honest. His words--  _ hide me, they’ll kill me if they find me _ \-- didn’t really allude to the happy, fluffy meetings that most soulmates were lucky enough to have. He’d spent years daydreaming about what could’ve possibly inspired words like those, and he had to admit that he never in his wildest dreams imagined that his soulmate would dart under his desk while he was studying, looking a little bit feral.

“Kindly, dude, please get the fuck out from under my desk,” Rhodey huffed, looking at the kid currently cowering where he was hidden from view.

“Hide me, they’ll kill me if they find me,” the boy said quickly, anxious eyes darting around the room.

Rhodey’s mouth dropped open in shock. He stared unabashedly. “You’re my--”

“Soulmate, yeah, I realized. And  _ dude _ , we need to have a talk about those words,” the boy had a quicksilver smile that transformed his whole face. Maybe that was just the soulbond clicking into place. “But I won’t be able to if I get murdered by half of the third floor, so please stop looking at me and go back to studying until they pass?”

Rhodey was too stunned to disobey. He lifted his head back up, pretending like he couldn’t feel the heat of the other boy’s body pressed against his legs. Just in time, too, as a group of angry-- and inexplicably whipped cream covered-- boys thundered past.

“Have you seen Tony Stark?” one asked him with a scowl as he passed. “I owe that twerp an ass kicking.”

The boy-- presumably Tony-- squeaked under the desk. Rhodey kicked him lightly to remind him to  _ shut the hell up _ .

Rhodey had heard of Tony Stark before, down the grapevine of campus gossip. Tony Stark, kid genius, son of Howard Stark, general menace to society. He’d never met the boy before-- clearly-- but he was starting to think at least one of those descriptors was true.

“I have no idea who that is,” Rhodey lied, using his most unimpressed voice. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to study. Go kick ass somewhere else.”

Tony was lucky that the other student stalked away before his giggle fit hit, because otherwise he definitely would’ve been caught. Rhodey tried to be irritated by that, he really did, but he could only find it endearing. Damn soulbond. He would’ve sworn that his standards were higher than _ chaos spirit with Bambi eyes who hides under desks. _

__ “You can come out now,” he said to Tony, still mentally bemoaning his terrible taste making him still like Tony. “They’re gone.”

“You’re my hero,” Tony said, crawling out. He sat on Rhodey’s desk and stretched like a cat.

Rhodey respectfully did not look at the strip of skin exposed when Tony raised his arms above his head. “What did you even do to make them so angry?”

“In my preemptive defense, they deserved it,” Tony said quickly. 

“ _ Tony _ .”

Tony flushed bright red. “I might’ve rigged the sprinklers on their floor to spray whipped cream in order to get back at them for copying my lab reports and then lit a small fire to set them off,” he scrubbed the back of his neck. “But that’s purely hypothetical. It’s equally possible that I did nothing, and they’re just hyper aggressive. Who’s to say, really?”

“Oh my god,” Rhodey buried his face in his hands. “Oh my  _ god _ .”

“Is that a good  _ oh my god  _ or a bad one?” asked Tony, swinging his legs like a child. They barely touched the floor from where he perched on Rhodey’s desk.

Rhodey finally took a minute to really  _ look  _ at his soulmate. Tony was short, but lanky in the way that suggested future growth spurts. He had a mop of messy brown hair that was falling in his whiskey-colored eyes, and faint freckles across the bridge of his nose. Perfectly straight teeth hid behind a cocky little smirk, but insecurity showed in his eyes and the way his shoulders hunched. 

“It was an  _ oh my god, my soulmate is quite possibly an evil genius _ ,” Rhodey decided, flashing Tony a smile of his own. “I’m reserving judgement until I know you a little better.”

Something like shock flitted across Tony’s face, but it was gone too fast for Rhodey to really catalog it. “Soulmates, yeah,” he said quietly. “Listen, I know that you’re kind of getting the short end of the stick here, so I’m sorry about that. If you want me to go away and forget this ever happened, I will. You have my word.”

“Dude,” Rhodey raised an eyebrow. “ _ Short end of the stick _ ? I don’t even know you yet.” He held up a hand as Tony opened his mouth to interrupt. “No, let me finish. I like to make my own judgments of people, and somehow I’m starting to think you might not be the best person to ask about yourself. I’m not saying I want to hop into bed with you right away, but I  _ do  _ want to get to know you. None of this pretending it didn’t happen bullshit, okay? You’re my soulmate, and I want you to be my friend, too.”

“Oh,” Tony looked like Rhodey had smacked him in the face with a two-by-four, stunned stupid. A hesitant smile bloomed on his face, markedly different from his earlier ones. “Oh, okay. I’d, uh, I’d like that. I just have one request?”

“Yeah?” Rhodey hummed.

“Stop calling me dude,” Tony complained. He pulled the collar of his shirt aside, baring the soul mark on his collarbone. “Look at this, I literally have  _ dude  _ tattooed on my skin for all eternity! I have a vendetta against the word now, and it’s all your fault.”

Rhodey burst out laughing. “You think yours is bad?” he challenged, showing Tony his marked forearm. “I thought you’d be dying when we met!”

“Perhaps I’m a little bit dramatic,” Tony shrugged casually, though his eyes were almost greedy where they fell on Rhodey’s mark. 

“A little? You filled the sprinklers with whipped cream to get back at some people who copied your work,” Rhodey made a face.

Tony made one right back. “And they’ll never do it again,” he said primly. 

Rhodey laughed again, his cheeks hurting a little from the force of his smile. “Tony, dude,” he said, grinning harder at Tony’s pout. “I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me happy :))
> 
> come talk to me on tumblr [@imposter-human](https://imposter-human.tumblr.com/)


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